“Alas! must it ever be so? Do we stand in our own light, wherever we go, And fight our own shadows forever?” – Lord Lytton

Technology is wonderful isn’t it. Now, we can work with portability from laptops, be connected to the Internet through EVDO, and be called anywhere on mobile phones.
In fact, as innovations for communications gets driven smaller and more portable, the more likelihood of flexible work but longer hours. More and more workers are opting to going hybrid or full-time telecommuters and working from home. Corporations are succeeding in saving some money from changing the technologies from the high rent of office buildings, to paying for VPNs and mobile phones.
Telecommuting might sound like a golden opportunity for those that have families and want to be home in time to take their kids to soccer practice, but it also involves a lot of long hours where your manager knows exactly where you are and what you’re doing due to the project task sheets. Most telecommuters are often given more workload due to the fact that they aren’t burdened by commute times and they’re always available.
Soon, with holographic imaging and better telecommunications such as Cisco TelePresence, there will be less likelihood of conference calls, and more such users actually meeting face-to-face. This will bring the last of the working force into the telecommuting realm… management and sales. What’s interesting due to this, is the fact that you’ll be able to not only project yourself into a meeting, but you will always be able to do it from home or a mobile environment.
Interestingly enough, it shows how times have changed in the working environment. It wasn’t but decades ago, that much of the work force was based out of cottage industries. As the industrial revolution changed where workers had to be, the workforce started dominating the office buildings like bees in a hive. Much of the work could not be done in a home environment at the time.
But little by little, we’ve again shifted. With social networking tools, and collaboration advancements, it is possible to operate in one’s home to work, without leaving the home. And second by second, the industry is shifting back to something it used to be.Photo Credit: (FallenPegasus)